Effects of eicosapentaenoic acid and fluoxetine on plasma cortisol, serum interleukin-1beta and interleukin-6 concentrations in patients with major depressive disorder
Abstract
Treatment studies have suggested that omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3 FAs) as monotherapy or adjunctive treatment have therapeutic effects in depression. The authors recently reported a study in which fluoxetine and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which is an omega-3 fatty acid, appeared to be equally effective in controlling depressive symptoms and their combination was superior to either of them alone. Regulation of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and reduction of inflammatory cytokines are among several biological mechanisms which potentially explain the impact of omega-3 FAs on depression. In the present study, plasma cortisol and serum interleukin-1beta (IL-1 beta) and interleukin-6 (Il-6) were measured in patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) participating in aforementioned trial to determine the effects of 8 weeks of treatment of depression with 1000 mg EPA alone or in combination with 20 mg fluoxetine on HPA axis activity and inflammatory cytokine production and compare the changes in these variables with those of treating with 20 mg fluoxetine alone. Forty-two patients were included in analysis. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that plasma cortisol decreased significantly after 8 weeks of intervention without significant difference among the groups. There was no interaction between group and response to treatment over time in the cortisol response based on three-way ANOVA. Serum concentrations of IL-1be…
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Some studies have demonstrated that antidepressants decrease inflammatory cytokines, others report either no effect or even increased levels.
“Although some studies have demonstrated that antidepressants decrease inflammatory cytokines (38, 39), others report either no effect (31, 40, 41) or even increased levels (42, 43).”
From Individual differences in the peripheral immune system promote resilience versus susceptibility to social stress (2014) · cites this paper as [40]
The literature describing the effects of standard antidepressants on systemic inflammation is highly mixed.
“Indeed, the literature describing the effects of standard antidepressants on systemic inflammation is highly mixed.”
From Individual differences in the peripheral immune system promote resilience versus susceptibility to social stress (2014) · cites this paper as [40]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Inflammatory cytokines in depression: neurobiological mechanisms and therapeutic implications
Felger, J. C., & Lotrich, F. E. (2013) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.04.060 · Cited by 1,180 · see citing works
Hannestad, J., DellaGioia, N., & Bloch, M. (2011) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2011.132 · Cited by 914 · see citing works
Hodes, G. E., Pfau, M. L., Leboeuf, M., Golden, S. A., Christoffel, D. J., Bregman, D., Rebusi, N., Heshmati, M., Aleyasin, H., Warren, B. L., et al. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1415191111 · Cited by 692 · see citing works
Inflamed moods: A review of the interactions between inflammation and mood disorders
Rosenblat, J. D., Cha, D. S., Mansur, R. B., & McIntyre, R. S. (2014) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2014.01.013 · Cited by 609 · see citing works
Neuroimmune mechanisms of depression
Hodes, G. E., Kana, V., Menard, C., Merad, M., & Russo, S. J. (2015) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.4113 · Cited by 585 · see citing works
Vagal pathways for microbiome-brain-gut axis communication
Forsythe, P., Bienenstock, J., & Kunze, W. A. (2014) · Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-0897-4_5 · Cited by 576 · see citing works
Inflammation and depression: a causal or coincidental link to the pathophysiology?
Leonard, B. E. (2018) · Acta Neuropsychiatrica · doi:10.1017/neu.2016.69 · Cited by 409 · see citing works
Immune and neuroendocrine mechanisms of stress vulnerability and resilience
Ménard, C., Pfau, M. L., Hodes, G. E., & Russo, S. J. (2017) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2016.90 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
Integrating Interleukin-6 into depression diagnosis and treatment
Hodes, G. E., Ménard, C., & Russo, S. J. (2016) · Neurobiology of Stress · doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2016.03.003 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Effect of antidepressant treatment on peripheral inflammation markers – A meta-analysis
Więdłocha, M., Marcinowicz, P., Krupa, R., Janoska-Jaździk, M., Janus, M., Dębowska, W., Mosiołek, A., Waszkiewicz, N., & Szulc, A. (2018) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.04.026 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
The role of inflammatory cytokines in suicidal behavior: A systematic review
Serafini, G., Pompili, M., Elena Seretti, M., Stefani, H., Palermo, M., Coryell, W., & Girardi, P. (2013) · European Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.06.002 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Targeting classical IL-6 signalling or IL-6<i>trans</i>-signalling in depression?
Maes, M., Anderson, G., Kubera, M., & Berk, M. (2014) · Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets · doi:10.1517/14728222.2014.888417 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Gu, M., Li, Y., Tang, H., Zhang, C., Li, W., Zhang, Y., Li, Y., Zhao, Y., & Song, C. (2018) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu10101351 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Mosiołek, A., Pięta, A., Jakima, S., Zborowska, N., Mosiołek, J., & Szulc, A. (2021) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm10081706 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Interleukin-1 β-Targeted Treatment Strategies in Inflammatory Depression: Toward Personalized Care
Ellul, P., Boyer, L., Groc, L., Leboyer, M., & Fond, G. (2016) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/acps.12656 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Omega-3 fatty acids for depression in adults
Appleton, K. M., Voyias, P. D., Sallis, H. M., Dawson, S., Ness, A. R., Churchill, R., & Perry, R. (2021) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd004692.pub5 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Chiu, C.-C., Frangou, S., Chang, C.-J., Chiu, W.-C., Liu, H.-C., Sun, I.-W., Liu, S.-I., Lu, M.-L., Chen, C.-H., Huang, S.-Y., et al. (2012) · The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.111.015784 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Zavvari, F., Nahavandi, A., & Goudarzi, M. (2020) · Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy · doi:10.1016/j.jchemneu.2019.101711 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
- Authors
- Jazayeri, S., Keshavarz, S. A., Tehrani-Doost, M., Djalali, M., Hosseini, M., Amini, H., Chamari, M., & Djazayery, A.
- Affiliations
- Tehran University of Medical Sciences (IR)
- Venue
- Psychiatry Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-06
- Volume
- 178
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 112-115
- ISSN
- 0165-1781 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2096751702
- Cited by
- 116
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 7.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychiatry Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Fatty Acid Research and Health
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Keywords
- eicosapentaenoic acid, omega-3 fatty acids, fluoxetine, major depressive disorder, plasma cortisol, IL-1β, interleukin-6, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, inflammatory cytokines, combination therapy, antidepressant mechanism
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Antidepressive Agents, Depressive Disorder, Major, Major Depressive Disorder, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Female, Fluoxetine, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Male, Middle Aged, Eicosapentaenoic Acid, Interleukin-6, Statistics, Nonparametric, Interleukin-1beta
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
